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Polygon Set Material/Part/Smoothing


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The 'Polygon Set Material' function assigns a material tag to the current polygon selection (or, if nothing is selected, all polygons in the active item layers), additionally a 'Material Group' item "Material Group Icon" is created in the Shader Tree with the same name and proper tag assignment, and a single child 'Material' "MAterial Icon" is inserted. Once defined, any modifications made to properties of the child material will be limited to only those polygons that hold that specific tag. Please reference Defining Polygon Tags for more information on specifying and applying tags and the Shader Tree page for adding and modifying additional layers to the Shader Tree.
Users can apply a material tag several ways. The command is available in the menu bar under "Geometry > Polygon > Assign Material Group". Users can also use the 'Assign Material' button of the Shading viewport. Finally, users can use the 'm' keyboard shortcut to assign material tags to a polygon. When invoked, the following dialog opens--

Polygon Set Material Dialogue

Polygon Set Material
Name: The 'Name' function allows users to either define a new name for the "Material Tag" by simply typing into the name input field, or, by LMB clicking the arrow widget to the right of the field and selecting from a list of tags defined previously within the scene.
Color: The 'Color' option allows users the ability to specify the 'Diffuse Color' value for the material item assigned to the material group.

Diffuse: The 'Diffuse' option allows users the ability to specify the 'Diffuse Amount' value for the material item assigned to the material group.

Specular: The 'Specular' option allows users the ability to specify the 'Specular Amount' value for the material item assigned to the material group.

Smoothing: Use this field to toggle the 'Smoothing' percentage value between 100% and 0% in the material item assigned to the material group, producing either smoothed or faceted geometry shading.

Make Default: When "Make Default" is enabled, all subsequent polygons that are created will default to that Material Tag name, inheriting the material setting automatically instead of the receiving the setting defined by the default Base Material.

Add to Library: When 'Add to Library' is enabled any new tags assigned will automatically be created as 'Library' items (nothing will happen when assigning an existing tag). The 'Library' function works like the instancing functionality of the Shader Tree providing a simple way to assign material settings to multiple Material Group items while only need to modify a single Material or texture. For information on using the Shader Tree library please reference the Shader Tree page of the documentation.


Polygon Set Part
Parts work in a similar fashion to 'Material' tags offering an additional means of defining polygon groupings. Parts can be a useful way to define additional surfacing layers in the shader tree, especially in cases where the surface layer spans across two or more material tags boundaries. Parts can also be useful when exporting geometry to other applications. Users can assign 'Part' tags from the menu bar command "Geometry > Polygon > Set Part". When invoked, the following dialog opens--

Set Part Dialogue Box

Name: The 'Name' function allows users to either define a new name for the "Part Tag" by simply typing into the name input field, or, by LMB clicking the arrow widget to the right of the field and selecting from a list of tags defined previously within the scene.

 

Polygon Set Smoothing Group
The MODO 'Material' item allows users to define the smoothing 'Angle' and 'Amount' for a surface, determining if adjacent polygons are shaded smooth or creased (producing a faceted surface). This option is set based on their difference of angle which in some cases may not provide users with enough control. This is especially true in the case of lower resolution game models where users will prefer to set smoothing based on groups. The borders between these groups determine where creases will appear. The interior of the smoothing group will continue to be based on the material smoothing settings or vertex normal map as MODO smoothing groups only add creases, they do not remove them.
MODO assigns smoothing groups by applying a specific type of polygon tag with an alphanumeric character name. Users can access the command to tag a polygon as such in the menu bar under "Geometry > Polygon > Set Smoothing Group". Invoking the command opens the Polygon Tag dialog--

Set Smoothing Group

When defining a smoothing group, users must assign alphanumeric characters (A-B, 0-9) representing sets. Smoothing group tags are not treated as names, instead each tag is considered a collection of characters or set. If two adjacent group tags contain the same character then they are smoothed. They are only creased if adjacent smoothing group tags don't contain any of the same characters. Here's an example--

Smoothing Group A
Here is some cylindrical geometry that requires creased edges.

Smoothing Group B
Turning off the edges (numeric pad /) allows one to better see the smoothing.

Smoothing Group C
Sections of geometry are selected and tagged with a smoothing group name 'A'.

Smoothing Group C
Alternating Sections are selected and tagged 'B'.

Smoothing Group C
The border between adjacent sections are now creased.

Smoothing Group C
The top section is now selected and assigned the smoothing group name 'AB' .

Smoothing Group C
Since the top section belongs to both the 'A' and 'B' sets, it is smoothed by both.

Tip icon

TIP: Creasing can now be assigned much more easily by using the 'Split Vertex Normals' command.

 

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